


Star Trek: Time and Darkness

by AdeenBanner



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 18:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdeenBanner/pseuds/AdeenBanner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain James Tiberius Kirk has gone missing the day the USS Enterprise return to Earth for shore leave. Now the team must recruit Captain Scarlett Delgrove to help them on their illegal mission to save the captain they love so dear. A common enemy brings the crew together and long forgotten feelings emerge out of the darkness and into the light for a certain doctor and a certain captain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:  
Year 2259.55: Earth

“What do you mean I am unsuitable to be on Starfleet?” Scarlett demanded angrily glaring at her commander.  
“I’m sorry, Miss Delgrove, but you are unsuitable for Starfleet and shall remain on Earth. You do not have the stamina to be anything on the U.S.S. Enterprise, end of story. I apologize for having to pass this news onto you. Good day.”  
Scarlett turned on her heels and stormed out of there angrily, infuriated she was unable to be a part of the U.S.S. Enterprise. She walked past her friend, Leonard McCoy, as she walked outside. He quickly hurried after her standing in front of her causing her to stop in her tracks. Scarlett eyed the ground below her feet trying to calm down and really didn’t want to look him in the eyes. Leonard pulled her into a hug sighing softly resting his head on top of hers. Scarlett embraced him back resting her head on his chest closing her eyes beginning to feel comforted by his warm embrace. He kissed the top of her head rubbing her back lightly trying to cheer her up somewhat hating to see her so worked up over this.   
“I’m sorry, Scar…” he softly whispered into her ear.  
“You’re leaving tomorrow aren’t you…?” she asked quietly to hide the emotion in the back of her throat.   
Leonard remained silent for a long moment closing his eyes holding her tighter in his arms.  
“Yes…I’m leaving tomorrow…” he told her softly.  
Scarlett pulled away from his embrace finally gazing up into his eyes. The pain coursed through her body from the thought of losing her closest friend.   
“Then…I guess…this is good-bye, Leonard…” she softly told him.   
She leaned up and suddenly kissed him on the lips, quickly pulling away and walking away from him. This threw Leonard off guard and he turned around quickly hoping to stop her, but it was too late. She was long gone before he finally put himself together.

Scarlett woke up with a start from the dream. She hadn’t had that dream for the past five years of Leonard being gone. She absolutely hated having that dream and remembering that day as if it had happened only moments ago. Scarlett regretted just leaving him like that after he had just told her he was leaving the next day. She sat up from her couch in her apartment and ran a hand through her long curly black hair before tucking her knees into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Her blue eyes scanned the room realizing she must have fallen asleep on the couch…again. She rubbed her eyes gently trying to wake up hating the fact she fell asleep so early. It was now ten at night and she wasn’t’ going to be able to sleep for the rest of the night. She heard the soft sound of rain beginning to tap on the roof of her home. Scarlett sighed standing up from the couch fixing her Mississippi University t-shirt and grey pajama shorts. She heard a light knock on her front door and turned her head sharply towards it wondering who would be at the door this late at night. She slowly began walking towards the door typing in her code to open the door. She grabbed the knob and turned it, opening the door only to gasp and step back from it shocked by who she saw in front of her.   
She suddenly walked up to him and threw her arms around his neck embracing him tightly burying her head into his shoulder. Leonard staggered back dropping his bag and wrapped his arms around her tightly not caring he was getting wet. He kissed the side of her head closing his eyes. Scarlett felt tears streaming down her face as she began to sob quietly immensely happy that she got to see him again. 

Hour Later:  
Scarlett sat on the couch with her legs tucked under her as she waited for Leonard to get out of the shower. She couldn’t stop smiling ever since he walked back into her life. She thought she might never see him again or worse, him dying in space. Leonard had nowhere else to go since his wife took everything from him in the divorce so Scarlett told him he was more than welcome to stay in her Georgia home as long as he needed. The thought of him staying with her made her feel warm and comforted having been alone for so long. She had always been fond of him since high school and throughout college, but was too shy and reserved to say anything to him. That ended up breaking her heart because he ended up getting married, having a child, and then going through a brutal divorce. Scarlett hated her sheepish, low self esteem self when it came to situations involving men, especially Leonard.  
She turned her head to look over her shoulder seeing Leonard walking downstairs wearing a plain white T-shirt and black sweatpants with his hair wet and slicked back. He rubbed the back of his head as he stepped from the bottom step. He glanced up at her seeing her watching him and smiled lightly at her. Leonard walked over to the couch and sat down beside her. He looked over at her seeing her still looking at him.  
“Why are you staring at me like that…?” he softly asked her.  
Scarlett blushed a dark red looking down at her hands embarrassed that he had noticed.   
“I’m sorry… I thought I was never going to see you again… that’s all…I haven’t seen you in five years…” she answered quietly becoming shy all of a sudden.  
“Don’t apologize…it’s all right… I’m sorry… you are becoming shy all of sudden…”   
“Aren’t I always shy…?”   
“Hm, not when you are angry.” He teased lightly.  
This caused a small chuckle to escape from Scarlett’s lips.  
“That is very true.” She agreed smiling.  
“So…what new has happened since I’ve been gone?” Leonard inquired pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear.  
“Nothing really…well…I did become a Captain for Starfleet…but have no ship to command.”  
“Are you serious? Congratulations then. I wish I was there for you to support you…”  
“It’s all right, Leonard. It isn’t your fault. I heard you became the Chief Medical Officer on the U.S.S Enterprise.”   
“Yes, you heard correctly.” He assured her nodding his head lightly.  
“Well that’s good…that has always been your dream…”  
“Well, I had many dreams or wishes but yes that is one of them.” He told her chuckling softly.  
“And what were they?” she inquired gazing back up at him.  
“Hm, well, one thing comes to mind. I think it was… five years ago today… remember when you kissed me and then left without me saying good bye?”  
“Oh…I thought you forgot that…” she bashfully answered gazing down at her hands again.  
“No, I did not forget that. You want to know something I wanted to do?”   
“Never speak to me again…?” she asked hesitantly.  
“No…this.”  
He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers resting a hand on her cheek. Scarlett was shocked by the sudden kiss then slowly closed her eyes returning the kiss. She suddenly pulled away looking into his eyes.  
“Y-you…wanted that… w-what… y-you…?”  
“You never gave me a chance to tell you…I’m sorry I put you through all that in the past…I guess…I was too blind to see that you were the one I actually needed in my life…”  
Scarlett wrapped her arms around his neck and suddenly kissed him passionately on the lips running a hand gently through his hair. Bones returned the kiss running his hands up her sides pushing up her shirt slightly as he did so. Biting her lower lip gently, he pushed her slowly back making her lay down on the couch. A soft sigh of contentment escaped Scarlett’s lips from the sudden feeling of his body pressing down on hers. She wrapped her legs around his hips pulling him down closer towards her kissing him more intimately. Leonard grabbed onto her legs and picked her up off the couch standing up walking upstairs towards her room. He laid her down on the laying on top of her. He broke away from the kiss for a moment taking off her shirt then his tossing them to the side. Bones began brushing his lips along her neck then along her shoulder. Scarlett moaned softly biting her lower lip running her hands down his chest and abdomen slowly. Her heart began racing suddenly when she reached the waistband of his sweatpants. Many emotions were flowing through her body at the moment never believing this would be happening to her with the man she had become in love with over the many years of being his best friend.


	2. Mid-Morning

Chapter Two:  
Mid-Morning:  
Bones laid by her side with his arms wrapped around her holding Scarlett close to him. He smiled lightly in his sleep feeling the warmth of her body beside him. She sighed softly as she slept, moving closer to him slightly. A small grin appeared on her lips as she continued to sleep peacefully. This caused Leonard to stir slightly from his sleep and open his eyes slowly. He looked down at her and smiled kissing her lightly on the forehead before closing his eyes again going back to sleep.  
Scotty and Chekov walked up to the front door of Scarlett’s house seeing the computer lock that was needed to be hacked into to allow access into her house.  
“Are you sure ve should be doing zis…you know… breaking into a Ceptain’s home…I mean…” Chekov quietly asked Scotty feeling extremely uneasy about the entire situation.  
“What? Are ya goin’ tah chicken out on me? Relax. You worry too much. You’ve done far worse on the Enterprise. Now just do it and get it over with so we can get inside.”  
Chekov sighed and walked over to the lock pulling out his device to help him find the password.  
“Fine, but if you get me suspended or in trouble… you aren’t going to hear the end of it…” Chekov warned him plugging in the device and pressing a button making the device begin to pin point the password.  
“Oh shut up, ya big whiner and do what yer told.” Scotty demanded folding his arms across his chest.  
“All right, all right… jeesh… you are zo pushy.” Chekov told him right before the device alerted him the door was unlocked.  
He took it out and opened the door.  
“Yeh, and you’re a pain in meh arse.” Scotty whispered shoving past him walking inside. “You stay down here, I’ll see where Scarlett and Bones are.”  
Scotty began walking quietly up the staircase leaving Chekov alone. Chekov sighed and shut the door quietly leaning against the wall.  
“You stay down here…” he mocked quietly under his breath. “He’s gonna get it one of these days…I’ll be the one saving him…”  
Scotty walked down the hallway quietly and poked his head into a room seeing Scarlett in her bed and was surprised to see Leonard in bed with her. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders smirking lightly. He walked into the room a little bit looking at both of them.  
“Wakey, wakey!” he exclaimed from the end of the bed.  
Bones and Scarlett both bolted awake from the sudden disturbance. Scarlett kept the blanket over her upper body and grabbed her gun off the nightstand with great haste and pointed it directly at Scotty giving him a hard, angry look.  
“Who the Hell are you and who gave you permission to enter my home?!”  
“Wow, darlin’, it’s okay!” Bones assured her grabbing her gun gently from her putting it on the nightstand before looking back at Montgomery. “Scotty, what the Hell are you doing here?”  
“Well, we have a bit of a situation…and I see you have already gotten close to our captain.”  
“What do you mean ‘our captain’?” Scarlett inquired raising an eyebrow. “I don’t have a crew or a ship.”  
“Well…Captain…went missing last night.”  
“What?” Bones asked in disbelief. “I just saw Jim last night…how…”  
“That’s what we are trying to figure out…so we are kind of putting an illegal team together to go find him.”  
“And you need me to help you?” Scarlett inquired baffled that she was actually being asked this. “Why me?”  
“Because you are a bad ass and don’t go by the rules so much, much like Captain Kirk.”  
“Oh…thanks.”  
“How did you get in here in the first place?” Bones asked raising an eyebrow at him.  
“I got my buddy Chekov to come with me. The kid’s downstairs.”  
“Oh great…you brought the kid with ya…” Bones muttered. “This… doesn’t leave this room…you hear…? Now, if you would so kindly as to leave the room and wait downstairs…”  
“Oh, of course… and what do you mean? Do you mean the fact that you got laid with the temporary captain of the Enterprise? Oh, that’s nothing…but…it would be a funny story to explain to Spock…”  
Bones grabbed a pillow and threw it at him hitting him in the face.  
“Shut it, Montgomery, or I will inject you with a dose of the most effective substance that will make you go insane and make you feel as if your insides are burning from the inside-out and I will make it look like an accident.”  
“I’m going to wait downstairs.” Scotty told him laughing nervously sprinting out of the room quickly.  
“Never going to hear the end of this…” Leonard mumbled, running a hand through his hair.  
“Well, just remember…I’ll straighten him out if he says anything…” she playfully told him leaning in and kissing him sweetly on the lips.  
Leonard returned her kiss running a hand slowly through her hair. He slowly pulled away after a few moments and smiled brightly at her resting his forehead against hers.  
“Why, thank you, darlin’…that means a lot to me…” 

Bones and Scarlett walked quickly downstairs one after the other. Scarlett wore faded blue jeans, combat boots, white tank top that fit to her curvy body, and a brown leather jacket with her hair thrown up into a high ponytail. Bones had thrown on a white t-shirt, dark blue jeans, his black boots, and his black leather jacket. Chekov stood up straighter when they both reached the bottom of the steps and extended his hand out towards her.  
“Pavel Chekov, ma’am. Honor to meet you.”  
Scarlett smiled sweetly at him shaking his hand firmly.  
“Pleasure to meet you, Chekov…Scarlett Delgrove…I like you already, Chekov.”  
“Thank you, ma’am.” He told her returning her a sheepish grin.  
Scarlett laughed lightly then looked over at Scotty.  
“Now that I’m not indecent, I haven’t exactly been introduced properly to you.”  
“Montgomery Scott, ma’am, but yeh can call meh Scotty.”  
“Nice to meet you, Scotty.” She shook his hand. “Now, who is all on this illegal team we are forming?”  
“I got Sulu, Uhuru, Chekov, McCoy of course, myself, and Spock.”  
“I’d be damned…you actually got Spock to agree on something that is illegal?”  
“Yes, yes I did, and he’s not that happy about Scarlett being captain but I don’t give a shit no matter how much that pointy eared bastard complains.”  
“Oh this is going to be interesting…” Scarlett mumbled. “Do we know what happened to Jim?”  
“Well, we checked the surveillance on the ship and it seems as if someone grabs him and pulls him into some strange portal.” Chekov answered quickly.  
“Hm…and we are using the same ship I’m guessing?”  
“Yes, ma’am.” Chekov answered yet again.  
“Hm…I like this… then we could possibly lure the kidnapper to the ship and figure out who is behind this…let’s move out then.”  
Scarlett walked out the door then with Chekov right on her heels following close behind her. Scotty burst out laughing shaking his head lightly glancing over at Bones then.  
“I see why yah like her so much, McCoy.” He teased walking out the door.  
Bones rolled his eyes and followed after him closing the door behind him wanting to badly to knock some sense out of Montgomery.  
“Less than twelve hours of shore leave, and Jim is getting me into Hell fire once more…remind myself to kick his annoying stuck up ass when we get him back…” he told himself smirking lightly shaking his head.


	3. Chapter 3

The four had joined the other crewmembers on the U.S.S. Enterprise in uniform slightly surprised they had a full functioning crew instead of just seven. Spock turned his head to glance over at them with his hands behind his back. Scarlett, from where she was standing, scanned the bridge with her eyes amazed by it all. She noticed everyone staring at her strangely all of a sudden and became slightly uncomfortable by the crew’s stares. She cleared her throat a little fighting back her shy disposition from emerging from the darkness.  
“Um…may I ask ya’ll ever so kindly…why you are staring at me?” she inquired with her southern accent coming out at the worst possible time.  
“Sorry, ma’am… we weren’t exactly aware we were having a…um… woman captain for this mission…ma’am…” one of the engineers answered her hesitantly, quickly looking away from her.  
“Oh…um…all right…” she responded. “What does he mean mission…?” she whispered to Scotty.  
“Oh, we have to do a quick peace making trip before we perform our illegal mission. Very last minute… Won’t take long, don’t worry.”  
“Oh…great…that involves talking to others…” Scarlett mumbled.  
Sulu walked up to her outstretching her hand towards her.  
“Sulu, ma’am…it’s a pleasure to have you on board.” He kindly greeted her.  
Scarlett shook his hand back smiling lightly.  
“Pleasure to meet you as well.” She brought her hand back and glanced over at the woman standing beside Spock.  
“Nyota Uhura. You may call me, Uhura.”  
Scarlett raised her eyebrows up slightly not liking how harsh she greeted her. She shook it off and just knew she wasn’t a big fan of a few of the crew already.  
“Nice to meet you too.” She slowly told her not meaning it whatsoever.  
“Spock.” He greeted quite stoically turning his head away from her.  
“Okay…um… I only have a few rules really… Don’t piss me off, follow my rules, if you don’t like me well suck it up because you are dealing with me for a while, and don’t question anything I say, just do it. If it’s that big of a deal, you may question me then. Get it, got it, good.”  
“Yes, ma’am.” Bones told her smiling a little bit. “I guess I will head on down to Sickbay…”  
“Doctor McCoy…we actually need you to accompany the captain to the meeting of peace.” Spock informed him looking over at him.  
“God damn it man, I’m a doctor, not a peacemaker.” Leonard told him letting out a puff of air in annoyance.  
Scarlett began laughing softly in a sweet, melodious tone. Spock just looked at Bones studying him.  
“I don’t get you…” Spock told him shaking his head lightly.  
“Scarlett does.” Scotty stated through a cough only to get elbowed hard in the chest by Bones.  
“Oh, I am so sorry… here… let me help you with that in Sickbay…” Bones sarcastically told him grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the bridge.

Three Days Later:  
Scarlett sat in the Captain’s chair on the bridge with her elbow perched on the arm of the chair and her head resting on her fist. She was trying to think over what she was going to say at the peacemaking meeting she was to attend to the next day. Everything was quiet on the bridge, everyone making sure that the ship was in good shape or on the alert of some oncoming attack. Bones stood by Chekov’s computer having him show him the footage of Jim being kidnapped again on Chekov’s smaller screen so no one else could see it trying to find something they were missing. Spock glanced over at Scarlett seeing her staring into the distantce.  
“Do you even have a clue what you are doing?” he suddenly asked causing everyone to turn their attention onto both of them.  
Scarlett glanced up at him and stood up suddenly standing in front of him not intimidated by his height.  
“Doubting my rank as captain isn’t going to get you far, Mr. Spock, so I suggest you get used to it rather quickly because until we find, Captain Kirk, you will be under my command and shall trust me on my decisions for they are the better good for this ship, it’s crew, and Kirk. Now, if you will kindly stop judging me and interrogating me, I would like to get this assignment over with to get to our original one. Thank you.”  
This shut Spock up and the crew on the bridge tried desperately not to laugh out loud shocked that someone actually managed to shut Spock up. Soft snickers filled the air coming to a stop when Spock gave them a dark look. Bones glanced over his shoulder smirking letting a soft chuckle escape his lips. He saw Scarlett look over at him with a light smile on her face and gave her a little wink before going back to working with Chekov. Scarlett’s smile brightened a tad bit causing her to blush. She gazed down at the ground suddenly when Spock glanced over at her suspiciously from her and Leonard’s eye contact. He raised an eyebrow still curious and nodded then agreeing to not judge her decisions walking away from her. Scarlett sighed in relief and walked over to Chekov standing on the other side of Bones. She glanced down at the screen seeing the footage play over again more slowly.  
“What ya got for me, Chekov?” she asked softly glancing over at him, her hand brushing Leonard’s ever so slightly.  
“I’m not quite sure. Ve keep on seeing the same thing over and over again. Ve don’t know vhat ve are looking for is the problem.”  
Scarlett looked closely at the image then quickly pointed her finger at the screen.  
“Pause it here.” She told him suddenly.  
Chekov paused the tape and they then saw the face of a man through the portal. He had pitch-black hair and had blue eyes with a menacing psychotic glint in them. Scarlett smirked lightly knowing they had a good chance of finding this guy.  
“Chekov…do you think you can identify him?” Scarlett inquired looking down at him leaning over his shoulder.  
“I could possibly have a name in…less then five minutes…six tops as my worse.” Chekov answered her in his timid tone.  
“Then go, go, go, kid.” She assured him patting him on the back.  
“I can do zat.” He happily told her beginning to quickly type away on the consul.  
In only a few moments after making his statement, he found a match.  
“All right. I found a match. Hm, his name is John Harrison…and he is from the planet Ceti Alpha VI.”  
“You’re a bloody genius! I’m so happy, I could just kiss ya!”  
Scarlett wrapped her arms around his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek smiling proudly at him. Chekov’s face went bright red and he smiled brightly from her compliment.  
“Thank you, ma’am!” he happily told her unable to stop from smiling.  
“You are my favorite.” She told him standing up patting him on the shoulder before looking at Bones. “Sorry, Leonard.”  
“It’s all right, I’m used to your neglect.” He teased lightly smiling lightly. “So what do you know about this man?”  
“Well, he’s a psychopath, a brilliant war strategist, extremely intellectual with anything really.” Scarlett explained to him. “So basically, he’s bad news. He’s not a bundle of roses. And it doesn’t help he’s one of us either.”  
“Oh that’s a nice sentiment…” Leonard mumbled sighing.  
“Yeah, that’s why I want to get this whole peace making thing over with now for that matter and the fact I suck at talking to others under stress, so yeah.”


	4. Chapter 4

Captain Delgrove and Doctor McCoy walked back onto the bridge after coming back from a three days of Hell on keeping peace for a longer amount of time with the Klingons…which was a miracle considering the Klingons are ruthless son of a bitches. Spock glanced up over at them and stood up straighter giving them the same stoic expression he gave to everyone except Uhura. Scarlett glanced over at him then walked over to the Captain’s seat and sat down looking towards Sulu.   
“Captain on ze bridge!” Chekov announced.  
“How did the peace meeting result?” Spock inquired.  
“It went well. Klingons actually listened for once. Mr. Sulu, you may commence going into Warp Speed 4.”  
“Yes, Captain.” He told her.  
“Mr. Chekov, our route is Ceti Alpha VI. Input coordinates to allow Mr. Sulu to proceed.”  
“Aye, Ceptain!”   
Just then, all the lights on the bridge went out. Everyone went silent and looked around wondering what the Hell was going on.  
“Scotty, what’s going on?”  
“Someone is screwin’ with the circuit board and I dinnae how they doin’ it, Captain.” Scotty explained sounding frustrated through the communicator.   
“Well, get the circuit board functioning again so we may get the mainframe working again. Is our back up generator down as well?”  
“Aye, Captain… I dinnae what caused it tah shut down.”  
“All right, keep me posted, Montgomery.” Scarlett told him becoming slightly frustrated from the whole situation.  
She stood up and walked down towards Chekov and placed her hands on the panel and leaned over.  
“You got nothing either?” she asked looking over at him.  
“No, ma’am. Everything just suddenly shut down.”   
A man’s face suddenly appeared on the screen causing everyone to look up. It was the same man from the surveillance video they had looked over. There was a sense of uneasiness throughout the crew as they saw the dark, malevolent expression upon his face. Scarlett slowly stood up straighter glaring up at the screen. Her knuckles turned white from the pressure of her hands turning into fists. The smirk beginning to appear on his lips made her feel slightly sick in the stomach. Now she was just angry and annoyed, no sign of her shyness peeking out from behind her façade.   
“Who gave you authorization to get into our ship’s systems?” she asked quite harshly glaring at him.  
“I did…especially since I have your Captain held captive at the moment…” he answered sinisterly, Kirk suddenly appeared in the transmission as well being held at phaser-point.  
“Captain Kirk, are you all right, sir?” Scarlett inquired, her expression softening slightly.  
“Who the Hell are-Scarlett? What the Hell are you doing aboard my ship?”   
“I asked, are you all right, Captain?” she asked again with authority in her voice.  
“I’m fine, Captain Delgrove.” He responded to her sounding aggravated.   
Khan threw him to the ground and kicked him hard in the gut causing a small gasp to escape Scarlett’s lips.   
“What do you want Harrison? Or is that really your name…”  
“John Harrison was merely a name of fiction I created for my time spent on Earth. Your people are fools…using my friends against me…thinking they could control me…well they…were…wrong…I am Khan…and I will destroy every…last ship…that Starfleet has out in this universe…destroying every…single…last one of your brothers and sisters…until nothing is left but their lifeless corpses floating in space with the debris of their precious ship with them…And I will begin…with the USS Enterprise…”  
“Are you threatening the safety of my ship and crew?” she angrily inquired.  
“I am…though…if you surrender your ship to me and give me what you have that rightfully belongs to me…I’ll beam back your dear Captain and no one gets hurt…little girls shouldn’t play these sorts of games…”  
“I ain’t no little girl, mister…now you listen here you no good worthless piece of shit…when I find you…I will personally get you myself…I will kick your sorry ass and beat the livin’ shit out of you…you don’t mess with a rattler and you sure as hell don’t mess with a mama bear when her cubs are in danger now call me a little girl again, and I will make your life a living Hell! Is that clear?!”  
Khan smirked darkly at her chuckling in a soft nefarious tone.  
“I’ll give you some time to think on the matter…” he told her darkly before the transmission was lost.   
The navigation panel began to spark and Sulu quickly got up and pushed Scarlett to the ground as it blew up before he could get Chekov. Chekov went flying back and hit the wall hard slumping to the ground unconscious. Scarlett began hyperventilating almost and sharply turned her head towards Chekov with shock and fear in her eyes. She quickly crawled over to Chekov. Everything on the ship began to come back on suddenly but the ship wasn’t moving.  
“Chekov? Chekov?! Are you all right?! Chekov! Answer me! Leonard! Help!”  
Bones ran over to Chekov and checked his pulse and made sure he was breathing all right.  
“He’s alive, but I need to get him to Sickbay A.S.A.P.” he told her quickly, picking Chekov up in his arms and hurrying out of the Bridge being careful.   
Scarlett stood up slowly, a dark look formed on her face as anger raged within her soul. She sharply turned her head towards the crew on the bridge and they were shocked by the sudden expression registered on her face.   
“I want this guy NOW! Get your asses moving and find out where the Hell he is! Uhura! Get me coordinates on where his last transmission was!”  
“Yes, captain!” she quickly sat down and began hurrying before the signal was lost.   
“Scotty, get down here and fix this panel so Mr. Sulu may commence going on this man hunt, NOW!”  
“Aye, Captain!”  
“Mr. Spock, once we find this bastard, you are in charge while I get on Khan’s ship and get the Captain!”  
“Yes, ma’am.” He assured her with feeling in it this time.   
“Captain, I have coordinates.”  
“Give them to Mr. Sulu now and someone replace Mr. Chekov for the time being! I want this bastard alive and on this ship!”  
"Ceptain, we have a problem!" Scotty told her as he hurried into the bridge.  
"What is it now?!" she inquired becoming frustrated by the events occurring.  
"The ship's warp core is not functioning, ma'am and we dinnae what the problem is."


	5. Chapter 5

Scarlett sat by Chekov’s bedside in Sickbay needing a break from the bridge to check on him. Worry and concern was all over her face as she looked down at him. A bandage covered a deep gash on his forehead now and he was still unconscious after the accident twenty-four hours ago. She was the only one in the medical room at the moment and liked it better that way. She was oblivious to the fact Bones had walked slowly up to her standing behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her shoulder. Scarlett jumped from this for a moment then realized it was just him. She relaxed and sighed, leaning back against him closing her eyes.  
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” he asked softly kissing her on the cheek.   
“No…” she barely choked out an answer trying her best not to cry.   
“You know…you don’t have to be the tough one all the time…” he whispered comfortingly into her ear.   
“I know…” she mumbled before bursting into tears burying her head into his chest.   
Bones held onto her tightly kissing her on the cheek again. He whispered into her ear comforting things trying to calm her down to the best of his ability.  
“Hey…sh…it’s all right… don’t cry…I’m right here… please don’t cry…” he softly whispered to her kissing the top of her head.  
“Maybe he’s right… maybe I shouldn’t be on this ship…I’m going to end up killing everyone on this ship…It’s going to be all my fault…I should have done something when Chekov got hurt… I could have gotten him out of the way… I don’t want to get anyone else hurt…”  
“Now enough of that… you are letting him get to your head. Ya can’t let him do that. If ya let him do that, he’s gonna know he got to you…ya gotta believe in yourself, sweetheart…I believe in you…you couldn’t have done anything to stop Chekov from getting hurt…if Sulu hadn’t gotten you out of the way, you would have been hurt…kid’s gonna be all right, I assure you…”  
Scarlett nodded wiping the tears from her eyes. She rested her head against his chest again looking up at him smiling lightly. He gazed down at her and returned the smile leaning down brushing his lips against hers. Scarlett slowly closed her eyes returning the kiss resting a hand gently on his cheek. Leonard slowly pulled away sucking on her lower lip resting his forehead against hers. She smiled keeping her eyes closed sighing softly.  
“I needed that for the past…maybe 10 days…” she softly told him standing up hugging him.  
Leonard rested his head on top of hers embracing her back chuckling softly.  
“I’m sorry… I was trying to keep it professional with us…for the time being…”  
“It’s all right, darlin’…” she told him smiling. “So Chekov is going to be okay then…?”  
“Yes, Chekov is going to be all right…I assure you… he will be fine… I will let you know when he wakes up…” he assured her calmly holding her close to him.  
“All right…thank you, sweetheart…” she quietly told him.  
“You’re welcome, gorgeous,” he told her leaning down and kissing her again.  
Scarlett returned the kiss for a long while before someone cleared their throat causing then to break away. They both glanced over towards the door seeing Spock standing there with his hands behind his back. Scarlett let go of Leonard slowly taking a step away from him standing up straighter. Bones rubbed the back of his head looking between Spock and Scarlett.  
“Captain, we need you on the bridge.” He calmly told her.   
“Did anything happen, Mr. Spock?” she inquired raising an eyebrow.  
“No, ma’am but we are drawing nearer to our destination.”  
“All right, thank you, Mr. Spock.” She turned her head towards Bones and winked at him smirking lightly. “Bye, baby.” Her southern drawl coming out a little.  
She walked towards the door and stopped in front of Spock. He stepped out of her way and allowed her to walk by. Spock glanced over at Bones and a small smirk formed on his face before turning around following behind Scarlett. It disappeared before Bones could fully comprehend what it meant. Bones ran a hand through his hair sighing.  
“Dammit man… you need to make sure you are actually alone when kissing your girlfriend who’s a captain of a freakin’ starship…” he mumbled to himself checking Chekov’s vitals.   
Spock and Scarlett walked in silence for what seemed like minutes until Spock spoke first.  
“Captain…permission to speak to you for a moment?” he inquired stopping in his tracks looking down at the tiny captain.  
Scarlett came to a halt and slowly turned around gazing up at Spock folding her arms across her chest.  
“Permission granted.” She told him.  
“I would like to express my apologies for doubting you as our captain… I didn’t mean to offend you in any way or form. I was not familiar with your leadership and strategic adeptness and regret my actions to go against your recruitment onto the ship’s crew. I hope you can accept my apology. I don’t want to be your enemy, I want to be your friend…”  
“Thank you, Spock…that actually means a lot to me…I accept your apology… I’m really sorry if I have been a bitch to you… I just don’t like people judging me… I have had enough of that in my life…”  
“I apologize. I did not realize such events had occured in the past.”  
“It’s not your fault…really, it’s fine… I would love to be a friend of yours… Jim has told me many good things about you…”  
“Were you and the captain close back on Earth?” Spock inquired raising an eyebrow.  
“You could say that… he’s kind of my stepbrother…and I’d prefer no one knew about it…if you don’t mind…we like to keep things like that hush hush…”  
“Of course, captain.”  
“Spock…before I came on this ship… was there anything brought onto the ship you found…odd for a ship who only does explorations to have on board…”  
“We did get supplied with a shipment of photon torpedoes by Admiral Marcus, ma’am.” Spock answered looking inquisitively at her.  
“How many?” the captain inquired putting her hands behind her back.  
“Seventy-two.”   
Scarlett took out her communicator and flipped it open putting it up to her mouth.  
“Mr. Sulu, I need you to find us the closest planetoid possible immediately. Any sign of Khan’s ship?”  
“Yes, Captain.” Sulu responded back. “We’ve made a sighting on his ship. He hasn’t spotted us though I think.”  
“Thank you, Mr. Sulu.”  
“What is this all about, Captain?”   
“I’m not sure…but I think those torpedoes have something to do with what Khan wants…” she told him quietly heading back to the bridge, Spock close behind. “At the moment, I need to try and communicate with Jim. Do you know if he had his communicator on him and for one thing have ya’ll tried his communicator?”  
“Captain Kirk always has his communicator on him…and that is an idea we have failed to try.”  
Scarlett smirked lightly and chuckled under her breath.  
“I’ve had a few good ideas in my life.” She told him putting her communicator up to her lips once more.  
“Jim, do you hear me?” she spoke through the device.  
Everything was silent.  
“Jim, do you copy?”  
Everything was silent for a moment before a sudden voice came over the small device.  
“Scarlett, are you trying to get yourself killed?” Jim asked her with worry in his voice.  
“And there’s his overprotective side…hi, Jim.”  
“Why are you on my ship?”  
“Because…I was recruited by your crew…” Scarlett sheepishly told him rubbing the back of her head.  
“They are all dead.” Jim sighed. “Where is Spock?”  
“I am right here, Captain.” Spock answered this time.   
“Do you have any idea, what the Hell is going on?”   
“Well, we were actually just discussing that, Captain and I believe Captain Delgrove has an interesting concept.” Spock assured him.  
~  
“Are you out of your corn fed mind?” Bones inquired as he looked at Scarlett and Spock in disbelief folding his arms across his chest. “You actually think it’s a good idea to pop open a torpedo because he basically dared you to?”  
“Why would he spare Jim’s life, Bones?” Scarlett questioned back putting her hands on her hips.  
“The doctor does have a point, Captain.” Spock informed her looking between the two.  
“Don’t agree with me, Spock…it makes me very uncomfortable.” Bones told him rolling his eyes.  
“Perhaps you too should learn to govern your emotions, Doctor. In this situation, logic dictates that we have…”  
“Logic! My God! There’s a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship, and you’re talking about…”  
“Stop it both of you!” Scarlett commanded giving them both a hard look. “I don’t know why he’s doing this and I plan on finding out, but that’s not it. So, if we’re gonna open a torpedo, the question is how…?”  
“But, Scarlett, with Mr. Scott trying to fix the malfunction of the warp core, who exactly is qualified to just pop open a four ton stick of dynamite?”  
“Perhaps Captain Delgrove would be able too considering her being a weapons specialist.” Spock glanced over at Scarlett.  
“No, that is out of the question.” Jim quickly responded over the communicator.   
“Jim, I don’t like the idea as much as you do, but she’s are only chance.” Bones assured him.  
“Fine, but you are going with her Bones.” Jim sharply told him. “And if you get my sis- I mean… If you get my best friend killed, you won’t hear the end of it.”  
“What?” Leonard exclaimed. “Are you mad?! I’m a doctor not a weapons specialist!”  
“Scarlett, order him to do what I say…”   
“Dr. McCoy, I order you to do what your former captain has asked.” Scarlett commanded glancing over at him. “You do have the steadiest hands on the ship.”  
“Fine…”


	6. Chapter 6

“Mr. Sulu, have Captain Delgrove and Doctor McCoy landed on the planetoid yet?” Kirk inquired over the communicator.  
“Yes, sir, they’re moving the torpedo into position now.” Sulu answered.  
“Ello, Captain, can yah hear me?” Scotty inquired over his communicator.  
“Mr. Scott, give me some good news.” Spock told him.  
“We found the leak, sir, but the damage is substantial! We are working on it.”  
“Any idea what may have caused this?” Spock glanced over at Sulu.  
“No, sir, but I accept full responsibility.”  
“Something does tell me it was not your fault. Keep me posted.” Spock ended the call.   
“Shuttle is standing by, sir.” Sulu told both Kirk and Spock.  
“Bones, thanks for helping out.” Kirk told him. “Scarlett did ask for the steadiest hands on the ship.”  
“You know, when I dreamed about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo.” Bones told him walking out of the shuttle.  
“Doctor McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt.” Kirk told him rolling his eyes.  
“So, how can these legendary hands help you, Captain Delgrove?”  
“Bones…” Jim warned shaking his head.  
“Oh, chill out, Jim…we’ve already had sex… he can flirt all he wants…” Scarlett told him observing the left side of the torpedo.  
“You had sex with my best friend?! When the Hell did this happen?!”   
“The night you went missing.” Scarlett nonchalantly told him.  
“Bones, we are having a looong talk when this whole thing is done.” Jim stated after a moment of silence.  
“Okay, whatever.”   
“To understand how powerful these weapons are, we need to open the warhead.” Scarlett began explaining as she prepared the torpedo. “To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, the warheads on these weapons are live.”  
“Sweetheart, I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets. Let me tell you, those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile.”  
Scarlett chuckled softly.  
“Dr. McCoy, there’s a bundle of fiber optic-cables against the inner casing. You’ll need to cut the twenty-third wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?”  
“Right, the thought never crossed my mind.” He stuck his arm into the torpedo preparing to cut the wire.  
“Dr. McCoy, wait for my word. I’m re-routing the detonation processor. Are you ready?”  
“And raring.”  
“Good luck.”   
The torpedo suddenly closed on Bones’ arm causing him to scream in pain.   
“Sir, the torpedo just armed itself.” Sulu said with slight panic in his tone.   
“The warhead’s gonna detonate in thirty seconds!” Navigation Officer Darwin exclaimed.  
“What the Hell happened?!” Bones exclaimed trying to pull his arm out of the torpedo. “I can’t get my arm out!”  
“Get their signal, beam them back right now.” Kirk ordered over the communicator.  
“Transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo.” Spock responded looking from the computer. “We cannot beam back one without the other.”  
“Scarlett, can you disarm it?” Jim quickly inquired.  
“I’m trying, I’m trying.” She answered with slight panic trying to deactivate the torpedo.  
“Spock, get her the Hell out of here!” Bones responded back to the bridge wanting to get her out of here as soon as possible.  
“No, if you beam me back, he dies!” Scarlett shouted. “Just let me do it!”  
Scarlett began rapidly typing on the touch screen seeing the torpedo beginning to quickly count down.  
“Ten, nine, eight…” Bones began counting down watching the seconds quickly go by.  
“Standing by to transport Captain Delgrove on your command, sir.” Sulu told Spock.  
“Four, three…” Bones continued.  
“Shit!” Scarlett exclaimed ripping out the wires to the torpedo.   
Bones and Scarlett were thrown back onto the ground. Bones gripped at his arm getting onto his knees at the same time Scarlett stood up.  
“Deactivation successful, Captain.” Sulu assured Spock.  
“Dr. McCoy, are you all right?” Spock asked through the communicator.   
Scarlett and Leonard didn’t answer walking forward slowly towards the torpedo looking down at the open cavity of the torpedo slightly uneasy about what they were seeing.   
“Bones?” Jim asked this time becoming more worried.  
“Guys, you’re gonna wanna see this…” Bones answered staring down at the man who was in cryo sleep.


End file.
